From Friday, May 9, 2008

AUSTIN – By his standards, Cory Whitsett came undone at the end of the 5A state golf tournament Friday.

Typically reserved outwardly, Memorial’s sophomore phenom yelled “birdie!” as he sank a short putt on No. 18 at Jimmy Clay Golf Course, raised both arms in the air in victory and gave coach Cameron Sands two solid high-fives.

Though Whitsett often has said he wasn’t stressing about improving on his second-place finish from a year ago, he made sure he enjoyed the most of his first individual state championship.

Whitsett shot 3-under 69 Friday after an even-par round Thursday, overcoming a two-shot deficit to edge Strake Jesuit’s Ben Thorseth and first-round leader Ryan Dagerman of Plano West by four shots.

“It’s definitely a goal I had,” said Whitsett, who won the Junior Amateur championship last summer. “The way I looked at it, I just wanted to go out and play good and hit good shots. I did that today. (No.) 18 kind of epitomized that. I hit a good drive, had a good second shot and a good putt.”

Whitsett birdied six holes and took the lead for good on No. 11, which he birdied and Dagerman bogied.

“He played smart today. He hit the shots when he needed to hit them,” Sands said. “I told his mom when he hit the final shot that was the most emotion I’ve seen from him in a while. It is important to him. After last year he said his goal was to win state. He’s been working hard; it’s fun to watch. It’s great to be a part of a team like this, then have (Whitsett) do this. It’s not just the talent. It’s the way he manages the course.”

Memorial shot 597, tying The Woodlands for second but losing a two-hole playoff. Plano West won by two shots.

Jes Schneider shot a two-day total of 147 for the Mustangs. Freshman Greg Rochna finished at 152, followed by Tyler Gann (157) and Lawrence Chang (159).

 

“We were little up and down at times but we held on,” Sands said. “Jes was 1-under at one point and then had a triple-bogey and a double-bogey and still shot a 74. Greg Rochna shot well in his first time. And we’re all gonna be returning next year. That’s exciting.”

 

Strake Jesuit was fourth, one shot behind Memorial.

Thorseth improved by seven shots from Thursday, from 76 to 69, and lost his individual two-hole playoff for second with Dagerman.

Nicko Dodd shot 147 for the Crusaders, followed by Chris Lauinger (152), Robert Mills (155) and Garrett Velarde (163).

“We were hoping to go lower but we just couldn’t get a whole lot of putts to fall,” Strake Jesuit coach Larry Finke said. “(Thorseth) was getting the ball closer to the pin than he did (Thursday) and he didn’t really have any bad stretches. He had some real short birdie putts and he did well on the par-5; (he) eagled one of them.”

Whitsett has a full summer of regional and national tournaments on his plate. Last week, he finished only four shots shy of earning a U.S. Open berth in the tournament’s local qualifier in Richmond.